Maharaj Dhritarashtra is one of the main characters of Mahabharata and was born of Ved Vyasa and the eldest wife of King Vichitraveerya, i.e. Ambika.

When Maharaj Shantanu’s daughter-in-law became childless practically, his wife Satyavati approached Bhishma to procreate and Bhishma practically refused to do any such kind of act.

This kind of act is termed as Niyoga in the Manu Samhita and is meant for pious people only, the ones who have controlled their senses.

Satyavati thought of Ved Vyasa and he immediately appeared on the scene and she told her about her misery. When asked to procreate, he gave the queen a set of austerities to be performed for one year to which Satyavati refused.

When he was about to procreate, Ambika closed her eyes in disgust as Ved Vyasa was a sage with strong odour, dirty body and mattled hair locks.

Since at the time of conception, the mother closed her eyes, similarly, ,the child was cursed by fate to be blind from the birth.

The child born out of them was Dhritarashtra, the eldest of the two and hence, he sat on the throne.

Dhritarashtra was furious on Bhima for mercilessly slaying all his sons. After the war ended, the victorious Pandavas arrived at Hastinapur for formal transfer of power. Dhritarashtra insisted Pandavas to hug him one by one. Dhritarashtra embraced Yudhishthira heartily but he had developed enormous enmity for Bhima.

When Dhritarashtra turned to Bhima for embracement (blessing as a goodwill gesture), Lord Krishna sensed the danger and asked Bhima to show his iron statue of himself which was used by Duryodhan for practicing Gadayuddha. Dhritarashtra crushed the statue with his full might of one thousand elephants, the iron statue was smashed into pieces. Thus

Lord Krishna not only rescued Bhima from the wrath of blind king but also from certain death. Dhritarashtra later apologized for his folly and wholeheartedly embraced Bhima and other Pandavas.